By now all of us have read the stories regarding the "faking" that China did at the Beijing Olympics. The cute little girl that was chosen to lip-synch the national anthem to the voice of another little girl, who was deemed "not perfect enough to reflect China". Moreover there are reports of enhancing of the videos of fireworks at the opening ceremonies as well, which again got everyone twisted up in knots.
Beyond the fact that this is entertainment, and often entertainment results in illusion, the issue is more that the Chinese tried to "pass-off" these two situations as reality vs. illusion and that's where the issue is for most, I believe.
However, aren't we a society where perfection is not asked for but demanded -- of our corporations as well. Why do we think that often we are "surprised" at the quarter-end results of some major corporations. Because we are focused on short term "perfection" or if you will "illusion of perfection". If a company has made major changes which will result in short-term hits to their bottom-line, the market reacts badly and sometimes causes a spiral for a firm -- being honest about its imperfection -- from which it can't recover.
This has resulted in some in the corporations' hierarchies to massage questionable results to again provide the market with what it wants -- continuous perfection. Sometimes unfortunately firms begin to believe their own press and ignore the warning signs of changes -- just look at what's happening at GM -- again they thought that they were "perfect" for the longest time and tried to convince the rest of us of that as well.
So is it any surprise that China decided that it wanted to demonstrate perfection? It is what most of the
world demands! So don't blame the Chinese -- blame our expectations. Let's realize that honesty is perfect -- and sometimes honesty is marred with aspects of imperfection!
Beyond the fact that this is entertainment, and often entertainment results in illusion, the issue is more that the Chinese tried to "pass-off" these two situations as reality vs. illusion and that's where the issue is for most, I believe.
However, aren't we a society where perfection is not asked for but demanded -- of our corporations as well. Why do we think that often we are "surprised" at the quarter-end results of some major corporations. Because we are focused on short term "perfection" or if you will "illusion of perfection". If a company has made major changes which will result in short-term hits to their bottom-line, the market reacts badly and sometimes causes a spiral for a firm -- being honest about its imperfection -- from which it can't recover.
This has resulted in some in the corporations' hierarchies to massage questionable results to again provide the market with what it wants -- continuous perfection. Sometimes unfortunately firms begin to believe their own press and ignore the warning signs of changes -- just look at what's happening at GM -- again they thought that they were "perfect" for the longest time and tried to convince the rest of us of that as well.
So is it any surprise that China decided that it wanted to demonstrate perfection? It is what most of the
world demands! So don't blame the Chinese -- blame our expectations. Let's realize that honesty is perfect -- and sometimes honesty is marred with aspects of imperfection!
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